Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood
Abstract There is accumulating evidence that the human cerebellum is heavily implicated in adult social cognition. Yet, its involvement in the development of Theory of Mind (ToM), a hallmark of social cognition, remains elusive. Using openly available functional MRI data of children with emerging To...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60523-9 |
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| author | Aikaterina Manoli Frank Van Overwalle Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann Sofie L. Valk |
| author_facet | Aikaterina Manoli Frank Van Overwalle Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann Sofie L. Valk |
| author_sort | Aikaterina Manoli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract There is accumulating evidence that the human cerebellum is heavily implicated in adult social cognition. Yet, its involvement in the development of Theory of Mind (ToM), a hallmark of social cognition, remains elusive. Using openly available functional MRI data of children with emerging ToM abilities (N = 41, age range: 3-12 years) and adults (N = 78), we show that children who pass a false-belief assessment of ToM abilities activate cerebellar Crus I-II in response to ToM events during a movie-watching task, similar to adults. This activation is not statistically significant in children who do not pass the ToM assessment. Functional connectivity profiles between cerebellar and cerebral ToM regions differ as a function of children’s ToM abilities. Notably, task-driven connectivity shifts from upstream to downstream connections between cerebellar and cerebral ToM regions from childhood to adulthood. Greater dependence on connections emerging from the cerebellum early in life suggests an important role of the cerebellum in establishing the cognitive processes underlying ToM in childhood and thus for the undisrupted development of social cognition. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c2cdc75362474bdcbfd0dfcb4732e1cb |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-c2cdc75362474bdcbfd0dfcb4732e1cb2025-08-20T03:10:34ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-06-0116111210.1038/s41467-025-60523-9Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhoodAikaterina Manoli0Frank Van Overwalle1Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann2Sofie L. Valk3International Max Planck Research School on Cognitive Neuroimaging (IMPRS CoNI), Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesBrain, Body and Cognition Research Group, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit BrusselMinerva Fast Track Group Milestones of Early Cognitive Development, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLise Meitner Group Neurobiosocial, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesAbstract There is accumulating evidence that the human cerebellum is heavily implicated in adult social cognition. Yet, its involvement in the development of Theory of Mind (ToM), a hallmark of social cognition, remains elusive. Using openly available functional MRI data of children with emerging ToM abilities (N = 41, age range: 3-12 years) and adults (N = 78), we show that children who pass a false-belief assessment of ToM abilities activate cerebellar Crus I-II in response to ToM events during a movie-watching task, similar to adults. This activation is not statistically significant in children who do not pass the ToM assessment. Functional connectivity profiles between cerebellar and cerebral ToM regions differ as a function of children’s ToM abilities. Notably, task-driven connectivity shifts from upstream to downstream connections between cerebellar and cerebral ToM regions from childhood to adulthood. Greater dependence on connections emerging from the cerebellum early in life suggests an important role of the cerebellum in establishing the cognitive processes underlying ToM in childhood and thus for the undisrupted development of social cognition.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60523-9 |
| spellingShingle | Aikaterina Manoli Frank Van Overwalle Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann Sofie L. Valk Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood Nature Communications |
| title | Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood |
| title_full | Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood |
| title_fullStr | Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood |
| title_short | Functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of Theory of Mind in early childhood |
| title_sort | functional recruitment and connectivity of the cerebellum is associated with the emergence of theory of mind in early childhood |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60523-9 |
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